Autoportrait

Copied Man Ray, Autoportrait, modeled 1933, cast 1969, mixed media: brass, wood, newspapers, spectacles (glass with iron alloy frame), wood veneer business card , overall_​2: 14 × 8 1⁄4 × 4 3⁄4 in. (35.6 × 21.1 × 12.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Juliet Man Ray, 1983.105.2

Artwork Details

Title
Autoportrait
Artist
Founder
Publisher
Date
modeled 1933, cast 1969
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
overall_​2: 14 × 8 1⁄4 × 4 3⁄4 in. (35.6 × 21.1 × 12.2 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Juliet Man Ray
Mediums
Mediums Description
mixed media: brass, wood, newspapers, spectacles (glass with iron alloy frame), wood veneer business card
Classifications
Subjects
  • Occupation — art — painter
  • Dress — accessory — eye wear
  • Occupation — art — sculptor
  • Occupation — art — photographer
  • Portrait male — Man Ray — self-portrait
  • Portrait male — Man Ray — head
Object Number
1983.105.2

Artwork Description

Man Ray created this self-portrait in Paris, intending for it to appear on the cover of a book of his photographs. A bronze cast of his face, wearing the artist's glasses, mocks the tradition of memorializing great men with death masks. The cast is cushioned in newsprint like a corpse in a coffin. Autoportrait suggests an artist entombed in his reputation and belies Man Ray's brave assertion "I simply try to be as free as possible . . . The work is done. I have total freedom."

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006